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The Institute for Dutch Lexicology has a vacancy for an experienced computational linguist for the development of Named Entity Processing tools as part of the IMPACT project.

IMPACT, started in January 2008, is a European research project in the field of informatics for the humanities, in which 15 national libraries and research institutes from Europe, Israel and Russia are working together. The main objective of IMPACT is to significantly improve access to historical text. To achieve this, the following tasks will be dealt with:

1. Current OCR software is not suitable for mass digitization of historical documents. Within the project, OCR software will be developed that significantly improves the accuracy of state-of-the-art systems, enabling for the first time reliable full-text mass digitization of historical documents.

2. Information in historical documents is not easily accessed by modern users because of the historical language barrier. Within the project, historical lexica and linguistic processing tools will be developed to enable enriched indexing, thus providing access to historical material with contemporary query techniques. In order to be effective, the lexica will also have to contain Named Entity data, and tools will have to be developed for NE recognition and NE classification for historical language material.

Tasks: The computational linguist will be responsible for the development of a toolbox for NE lexicon building and NE lexicon deployment to tackle historical language material to be used for the improvement of OCR of historical texts and for better retrieval on historical text material. The work will imply the implementation as well as the design of relevant algorithms.

Offer: An INL contract for two years. The salary is dependent on relevant experience and skills, with a maximum of € 4326, - gross per month (scale 11) on a full-time basis. In addition you will be entitled to 42 days holiday per year plus holiday pay, according to the cao-Onderzoekinstellingen.